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RE: [RC] Feeding the young endurance prospect - heidiI just got a yearling Paso Fino filly that I have high hopes for as an endurance horse. I have not had a youngster for a few years and was wondering what is out there for young horses now? She gets free choice hay right now while she is up in the barn and then will have free choice bermuda pasture in the warm seasons and free choice hay in the winter. When I had youngsters in the past, I fed them Triple Crown Senior and they did well on it (I know senior horse feed for young horses was probably a no no but it really did work well). Now my horses are eating Purina Ultium. Would it be OK to feed her some Ultium or should I purchase some sort of feed for younger horses? I like to KISS when it comes to feeding. Your young horse will mature into a healthier, more athletic horse if you follow the KISS principle as well. An all-forage or nearly all-forage diet is a must in order to get a properly-developed hindgut that will ensure your horse's future ability to efficiently digest forages into useable fuel for the intended work. Our "youngster" feeding program is free-feed high-quality hay, primarily grass from the yearling stage onward, but with supplementation of alfalfa as necessary to keep protein levels up. (The amount of alfalfa needed--or if it is needed at all--will depend on the quality of your grass hay and how rich the alfalfa is.) A good vitamin-mineral supplement is a good idea--and a small handful of some kind of concentrate to serve as a vehicle for the supplement (as well as as an inticement to make them like to get caught) is about all that concentrates are useful for in feeding of young horses. Using them as any major part of the diet will tend to either overload them on calories (putting them at risk for developmental joint diseases) or to compete for "space in the diet" with forages, thereby depriving them of that important need. While the strictly forage-fed youngster may grow a bit more slowly than his concentrate-fed counterpart, he WILL still reach his full growth potential, if the forage is of good quality--and the slower growth will keep him more sound. Heidi =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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